Media training

If the glare of the media spotlight falls on your company, members of your senior executive team may need to speak to the media.

Providing an effective interview or performing well in a press conference is an important skill and requires practice. Without training and preparation, even the most experienced leaders and presenters can stumble when confronted by aggressive journalists.

Our intensive one and two day training programmes prepare senior executives to confidently manage the most challenging questions and ensure that the reputation of your company, as well as their personal reputations, are protected.

Involving realistic practical exercises with a local television crew and using scenarios that are specific to your company, we prepare your executives to control the message and the interview to demonstrate confidence in themselves and your company.

This full-day course is suited for potential spokespeople and/or managers who may be confronted by the media during an incident. These key members of your team need to understand the parameters of crisis communications and be able to speak cogently and clearly about the company’s actions.

The aim of this course is to provide insight into media activity during an incident, and into what is generally required for your company to protect its reputation. 

Key learning points:

• Understanding the media – tips for print, broadcast and telephone interviews and what makes news
• Understanding crisis communication
• Interview – do’s and don’ts and establishing key messages
• Basics of body language
• Role play & bridging techniques – Interview, playback and review (practical)
• Media conference (practical)
• Door step interview – how to handle intrusive interviews/situations (practical)
• Social media – introduction and managing its impact/effectiveness during a crisis
• Reviewing and implementing your emergency communications plan

A half day course designed to acquaint all shore based staff with the demands of the media and social media during a major incident. This course is an introduction to the stresses and strains of dealing with the media when an incident might break and what is expected of staff if they come into contact with journalists.

Significant attention will also be given to social media activity and course will give participants the knowledge they need to ensure their online activity does not negatively impact their company.

Key learning points:

• Understanding the media – what makes news
• Do’s and don’ts – crisis communication guidelines
• Telephone skills – how to manage media and other relevant calls
• The potential impact of making a throwaway comment
• The importance of adhering to the company emergency communications plan
• What drives social media? Who might be looking?
• Social media privacy settings and how to keep your content away from the media
• The lack of balance and control within social media which can feed into the mainstream media

Every one of your employees, especially your seagoing staff who have direct knowledge of any incident, now has the potential to reach a larger audience than the most powerful leader or celebrity could have done just 20 years ago. The challenge is that most people do not understand this potential and crises and scandals are often created by unwitting employees “privately” sharing content which suddenly reaches a global audience.

Your company should have a social media policy for your vessels, but a policy is only as good as the people who work with it and so your officers must be your first line of defence.

Offered as both a half and full day course, this program provides your officers with the skills to respond to on scene media pressures and the background knowledge to understand the reputational impacts of their actions and those of the crew. This programme can also be delivered as an online-learning module which can be completed at anytime from any internet connected device. 

Key learning points:

• Understanding how the media responds and what they’ll be looking for
• Managing the sharing of images and information from an incident
• Dealing with on scene journalists and photographers
• Practice declining interviews without creating a story
• Limiting crew social media use and the illusion of privacy
• Supporting the company communications team ashore

This two hour course is designed for vessel crews and will prepare them to deal with any media interactions including gangway approaches, journalist calls to the ship’s bridge, and contact at a shore based location. The course also provides guidance on social media use, especially in a crisis situation, to ensure that information is not leaked and unwanted attention is not attracted.

This programme can also be delivered as an eLearning module which can be completed at anytime from any internet connected device.

Key learning points:

• Understanding how the media works and what they’ll be looking for
• Tips for dealing with aggressive media and ‘paparazzi’ situations
• Exercises: Practice refusing an interview
• Know your privacy rights – what the media can and cannot do
• Social media privacy settings and how to keep your content away from the media
• Public perception: what to post and what not to post
• Use of private communications channels: They’re not as private as you think

The operation of passenger vessels presents an extra challenge and will almost certainly increase the media and public scrutiny of any incident.

Crew on these vessels are often in close contact with members of the general public and there is a significantly increased risk that their actions, both on and offline, will attract negative attention and potentially damage reputations.

Key learning points:

• How the media work and what techniques they may use to extract private information
• How social media functions and the potential reputational impacts of posts taken out of context
• Dealing with paparazzi and what they are looking for
• Basic legal information about individual rights to privacy
• The pressures of new systems which enable public ‘spying’ – e.g. drones, and vessel tracking

Our seafarer media training programme can also be delivered as an eLearning module which can be completed at anytime from any internet connected device.

This half or full-day workshop shows attendees how to use social media to generate positive shipping stories and enhance company reputations.

The best defence against reputation damage in a crises is a strong reputation beforehand. We focus on techniques for using social media to engage with important audiences and create the connections that can safeguard reputations through the aftermath of an incident.

Having a great social media profile is one thing, but boosting respect and reputation using social media requires a whole extra level of strategy.

Throughout this interactive workshop there are opportunities for individual planning, as well as tips, hints and suggestions for the profitable use of blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, amongst others.

We pride ourselves on providing truly bespoke training solutions. Each of the programmes listed above will be tailored to the specific needs of your company.

However, if you are looking for something unique for your employees then please contact enquiries@navigateresponse.com for more information.

Previously, we have created bespoke training programmes for emergency call handlers working in the oil industry, individuals looking to refine their presentation skills, charities operating in the maritime sector, and many more.